


Denature

by Surrika



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2019-10-06 02:48:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17337272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Surrika/pseuds/Surrika
Summary: Toriel, a caring motherly goat has to struggle with a new situation that she could never think she would find herself in. Living up to the Dreemurr family name.





	1. Prologue

**Denature**

  
  


**Prologue**

  
  


A tall white goat creature frantically rushes about the kitchen; it had been a long time since a human had last fallen down to the underground but once again that time had finally come. It would be nice to surprise the human with something sweet!  the monsters of the underground once knew her as Toriel, their queen. But she had become a recluse as she did not like the events that transpired after the death of the heir to the throne, her son, Asriel. Her husband Asgore became obsessed with vengeance and wrath, declaring war on the humans who had imprisoned them long ago.

  
  


“Oh I hope they like snail pie… wait, do humans eat snails? It's been so long that I can't remember what human food even looked like, let alone what they actually ate! I should call them!” Toriel fussed as she quickly pulled out her phone and began to dial the digits for the cell phone she gave the human on their first encounter, but before she entered the last digit she paused for thought, feeling a odd sensation of deja-vu. “Maybe they like Cinnamon? ...I should call just to be sure,” she said, pressing down on the final digit of the number and hitting call.

  
  


It wasn't long before the human had answered the call. “Hello? This is Toriel,” the monster lady spoke. “For no reason in particular, which do you prefer? Cinnamon or Butterscotch? Wait do not tell me. Is it Cinnamon?” Once the human answered, Toriel continued to speak. “Hee hee hee. I had a feeling. When humans fall down here, strangely I… I often feel like I already know them. Truthfully, when I first saw you, I felt... like I was seeing a old friend for the first time. Strange, is it not? Well, thank you for your selection,” she said finally hanging up the phone.

  
  


With a few more calls and her knowledge of human food preferences confirmed, Toriel set forth into baking a pie for them to share. Once she finally finished preparing the pie, she set it into the oven. Lighting the oven with her fire magic, which she found to be better for cooking than the oven itself, and closing the door she realised how long preparing the pie had taken her. “Ah! How long has the child been alone!? I hope they are alright...” She quickly rushed out of the kitchen and through her house to the garden. Frantically, she pulled out her phone and started to call the human again.

  
  


“Oh dear, that took longer than I thought it would,” she said, heading towards the dead tree outside her home as she dialled the child’s number, letting it ring once before realising the very human she was worrying about stood before her. Clutching a small stick and wearing a ribbon faded with age, the child looked at her with a slight smile despite the small bandage covering its cheek. “How did you get here, my child? Are you hurt?” she asked, kneeling down and placing one hand tenderly on the child’s shoulder as she looked for any other signs of injury. “There, there, I will heal you.” she said, making a gesture with her paw as she magically healed the human’s minor wounds.

  
  


“I should not have left you alone for so long,” Toriel apologised. “It was irresponsible to try to surprise you like this.” The child gasped, smiling widely, and the reclusive nanny realised that she had slipped up. “Err... Well, I suppose I cannot hide it any longer,” she said with an embarrassed giggle, “Come, small one!” Toriel took the human gently by the hand and led them into her home, the smell of a delicious baked confection immediately greeting them. “Do you smell that? Surprise! It is a butterscotch-cinnamon pie. I thought we might celebrate your arrival,” Toriel explained. “I want you to have a nice time living here so I will hold off on snail pie for tonight. Here, I have another surprise for you,” she said, excitedly almost losing herself and having to stifle a bleat of happiness.

  
  


She took the child's hand and lead them down a pleasantly decorated hallway adorned with many water sausages to the spare room. “This is it; a room of your own. I hope you like it!” she said, gently ruffling their hair. Her chest tightened, as memories of when she was mother came back to her. Her nostalgia was short lived however as she took a sniff of the air. “Is something burning...? Um, make yourself at home!” she offered before rushing off to the kitchen, knowing exactly what that smell was. A thin wisp of smoke emitted from the top of the oven door. “Oh no!” she panicked as she opened the door, wafting the smoke away and snapping her digits so her magical fire would dissipate. It looks like she was just in time to save the pie. She donned her oven mitts and pulled out the pie setting it on the window to cool. She made her way back to the spare room and slowly opened the door after a gentle knock.

  
  


It seemed that the human took her offer to heart, as she found them already in bed and fast sleep. Toriel smiled gently, before heading back to the kitchen to grab a slice of the fresh pie and dish it out on a plate with a tiny plastic fork. She took the plate to the child's room and set it down on the floor to cool, before approaching the bed and tucking the human in properly. She gently kissed their forehead, before whispering “Don't worry my child, I won't let them take you… Not again.” Quietly leaving the room,Toriel made her way to the living room and grabbed one of her many books about snails and began to read.

  
  


Time passed, the crackling of the fireplace soothing the motherly monster. The hours of idly reading had given her time to think more, about the child and herself and the world beyond her home. ‘This one I will get right,’ she thought. Something was telling her this would be the one she saves. Almost as if the child could hear her thoughts, she looked over her book to see the child standing there, staring at her inquisitively. “Yes my child? What is it?” she asked, before the child spoke the words she was hoping not to hear. “L-Leave? You can't, we are trapped down here…” Toriel urged. “I can try to make your new life here as comfortable as possible. Would you like to read a book with me instead?” she asked, but the human persisted their line of questioning. She sighed, closing her book “Excuse me my child, there is something I must attend to.”

  
  


She set the book down gently and hurried past the human, heading down into the basement. 'If I destroy the door, they can't possibly leave, I won't have to be alone any longer!' she thought to herself as she ran. Rounding a corner, she saw it ahead; the door between her and the rest of the underground. She paused to consider her options before she heard tiny footsteps approaching behind her. Toriel turned around to face the small child, who fixed her with a look of innocent curiosity. “My child, please go back upstairs. You don't know what kind of danger you are in. If you tried to leave, they...Asgore will kill you. I cannot permit you to go outside knowing what danger awaits beyond this door!” she said, determined to stop the human from leaving.

  
  


The human took another step forward, and her chest tightened again. Regardless, she steeled herself; she couldn’t allow the child to leave, not if they were only going to die. The human stepped forwards again, their questioning expression changing to a steely gaze. Toriel realised that outright denying the child would not work, but maybe... “My child, if you can prove to me you are strong enough to survive, I will give you permission to leave,” Toriel bargained, “but only if you defeat me to the point that I cannot stop you. If you are not strong enough though, I will ground you and send you to your room. So do it,” she scolded as flames began to envelop the goat creature’s paws. “Prove to me you are strong enough!” she yelled holding back tears as she lobbed a fireball at the human, which they narrowly dodged.

  
  


Fireball after fireball was hurled at the human in the most indirect way she could manage. She didn't want to hurt the child after all. She wanted to protect them didn't she? Toriel was starting to doubt her motivations for this battle, but then something shocked her to her core. A scream of pain. She snapped back to the battle from her doubt-filled mind and looked ahead of the scorched hallway before her. Her paws quickly came up to cover her mouth. “Oh no...no no no!” she panicked, quickly rushing over and kneeling down to the body of the child which was smoking from a fireball attack. “No I didn't, no I couldn't!” she cried as she tried to cast healing magic on the body repeatedly, but to no avail. She had killed them.

  
  


Toriel had become just like them: a murderer, another Dreemurr. She scooped up the body into her arms, holding them close and losing herself to tears. “My child...I'm so sorry, I...I couldn't protect you...I just didn't want to be alone anymore...P-Please forgive me.” she pleaded to the lifeless body. But as if answering her apology, a red light softly emitted from the child's chest. Their soul was leaving and was now floating right in front of her face. The soul gave off a pleasant warmth as Toriel wiped away some stray tears. “I am so sorry my child...” she said, and then as if by instinct, she reached out for the soul touching it ever so gently. Toriel then felt herself covered in a red glowing warmth as the soul slowly entered her body. Something was happening to her, she was changing. But into what she wasn't aware of, because before she could even think about what had occurred, she had lost consciousness.

 


	2. A souls new home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toriel now has to come to terms with what having a human soul actually means.

**Chapter 1**

  
  


Nothing, it was the feeling that flowed through the fibre of Toriel's very being. Unconscious, but yet strangely aware of her current state. Looking around she tried to piece together what was happening, but it was so dark that she could barely see her own paws, even as she cautiously  moved to lift herself off of the floor. She had no idea what to do or even what to say. “Am I...dead?” Toriel questioned herself before being greeted by a familiar red glow. The Child’s soul. She knew she had just seen this soul, but why did it feel like she had known it for years?

  
  


“Child?” she called as she waded through the darkness towards it. It began to come back to her, the events that had just transpired. This was the child's very essence, their determination.

  
  


“Wake up...” two words whispered through the darkness. Quiet yet impactful enough to echo through the emptiness of the silent void. “Wake up...” the chant repeated before becoming almost deafeningly loud. She had to cover her ears to try and mute the constant demand.

  
  


“I'm sorry! I didn't want this! Please, I...” Toriel pleaded, but before she could finish speaking she awoke. She could barely open her eyes, but she didn't need to; something felt wrong. Ahead of her once again laid the body of the fallen child, but somehow faded? It was as if something was missing. Toriel slowly pushed herself up to her knees and looked at her paws. Were they smaller? That couldn't be possible. She shook her head, attempting to regain more of her senses only to feel an odd sensation against her cheek: fur. Not quite her own facial fuzz, but not quite someone else’s. She grasped behind her head thoughtfully, and noticed that her fur there was slightly longer than before.

  
  


As thoughts began to flood the mother’s mind, a voice echoed throughout her conscious state. “There's someone at the door...” the sudden yet familiar voice startled her, but before she could even recover from that surprise, the door behind her began to thud rhythmically. A shave and a haircut, or at least the first part of that popular comedic riff couplet. Despite everything that had just happened, she couldn't not finish it, instead responding with the final two knocks of her now smaller paws against the ancient door.

  
  


“Hey lady, you ready for our daily dose of laughs?” a familiar voice asked from the other side of the door. Toriel had never actually asked for this monster's name, despite them making her time in the ruins a little less lonely, but the jovial tone of that voice was comforting to hear. She had always been afraid of getting too attached to someone on the other side, but now... As she thought, the monster obviously thought she was taking a little bit too long to reply. “Hey, you okay in there? You're even quieter than that time you made me make that promise.”

  
  


Toriel blinked with shock; the monster had remembered the promise that she had now broken before him. She didn't know how to respond to that, but right now needed someone, anyone to talk too. “I've been rude… we've spent so much time together with this door between us and I've never once invited you inside,” she said as she slowly got to her feet. She didn't know why but for some reason the door to the rest of the underground had never looked bigger or more intimidating to her. When she finally walked up to it and put her paw against it to begin to open it, however, she realised that it wasn’t bigger; she was shorter? A question for a later date however, because she had a guest.

  
  


She pushed the set of double doors open to greet the humorous stranger. A squat skeleton in a blue hoodie and slippers stood before her. There was something comical about the way he was dressed, like he just threw on the first things he saw just to be able to go outside. The skeleton’s happy-looking face quickly changed to that of concern. “Hey, are you okay lady? You look like you've been replicating Waterfall...” he asked. Toriel couldn't help but give a sheepish smile. Still cracking jokes in an attempt to make her happy. The smile was however, short lived.

  
  


“Hello, my name is Toriel,” she greeted the skeleton.

  
  


He in turn answered back, “Sans. So, er, what's got your goat?”

  
  


“I am afraid you may not be able to keep that promise I had you make...” Toriel hesitantly explained.

  
  


A silence filled the air as it didn't take long for Sans to put together what that statement meant. He leaned to the side to look around Toriel, and his vision was indeed locked onto the fallen child's motionless body, He skirted slowly around her and walked over to the human. After a few moments, he finally turned back to face her. Toriel couldn't describe the look, it was like he was looking right through her. “Huh...I'm guessing this was an accident though?” he asked, to which Toriel just gave a nod and waited in silence.

  
  


Sans gave a nonchalant shrug and shook his head. “Well, I would suggest a way to fix this but I don't see the humans soul anywhere...” He then looked at Toriel with a cocked brow as if he knew where it was. Toriel was a bit confused but then it finally dawned on her. “Did I… absorb it? Is that why I feel shorter?” she asked.

  
  


“Could be. Shame I didn't get to see you before this,” Sans explained, “but uh, if you absorbed the soul you should still be able to hear them… have you tried talking to them?”

  
  


Talking to them? Was that even possible? Wait that voice before the knock, was that them? Her mind suddenly sidetracked down another line of questioning: how did Sans know about this aspect of absorption? “Sans, how do you know I would be able to hear them and talk to them?” she asked, to which he closed his eyes and seemed to stop himself from giving a gentle chuckle.

  
  


“Just because I look like one doesn't mean I’m a bonehead. Let's just say I've had past experiences,” he said, the ominous tone sending shivers up her spine.

  
  


“Have you ever experienced deja vu before?” he asked. This caused Toriel to think back to before this event. She had indeed, so simply responded with a gentle nod. “Well it's kind of like that,” he chuckled a little but didn't add any more to the matter. “So give it a go...Close your eyes and try to talk to them...” he egged her on. What else was there to lose?

  
  


Toriel closed her eyes and thought, 'How do you even talk to a soul?' Immediately after that question a voice rang out within her head “Like that.” She gave a panicked bleat and held her paws over her mouth as she saw San’s widest grin ever. Apparently he found that amusing.

  
  


“Seems like you did it, huh?” the skeleton asked before then adding, “Human souls have an odd power...The eggheads call it determination. Now this may sound weird, but I want you to think very hard about the point before you killed the human. I want you to desire, as strongly as you can, to go back to that point...” he said, but the comedian inside him couldn't help but add, “You also got to click your heels 3 times and say there's no place like home.”

  
  


Toriel gave a piercing glare at the skeleton, knowing that last part was a joke, but did as he asked. She closed her eyes and thought really hard. It was a moment that was hard to forget as she remembered every painstaking detail of that event, like it was permanently saved in her memory. There was a blinding light and...she woke up, on the floor. What just happened? Again, a voice rung out in her head, “There's someone at the door...”

  
  


She shot up to her feet and looked at the door, once again. The knocks sounded, a shave and a haircut. She added the two responding knocks to the couplet, but wasted no time opening the door. Sans just looked at her and frowned “Hey, are you okay lady? You look like you've been replicating Wate- ...huh deja vu...” the skeleton said.

  
  


Toriel was now more confused than ever. Everything was playing out near enough the same; small things were different, like how quickly she opened the door and how Sans seemed to experience deja vu. The short skeleton seemed to skirt around her whilst she was in thought and once again saw the body of the child “Oh, I get it...” he said, looking back at Toriel and shrugging. “Oh well I guess we tried,” he said in the most bored tone Toriel had ever heard.

  
  


Toriel walked over to him and asked “How can you be so nonchalant about this? I killed a child Sans...” she asked with a worried frown.

  
  


“Huh, guess I told you my name finally...Well if we can't fix it, why be morose about it? All you can do is work with what you got,” he said.

  
  


Picking up on what Sans just said, she said, “Oh, my name is Toriel, and how? How in the world do I work with the knowledge that I murdered a poor innocent child?” she inquired, trying her very best not to well up as her actions were yet again starting to catch up to her, to which the skeleton raised his hands to gesture her to stop.

  
  


“No waterworks, you'll set me off too… Look Toriel, it may not be what you want to hear, but you need to head to the barrier. You have a human soul now and that comes with a responsibility to leave the underground and free all the monsters,” he said, not really sounding all that enthusiastic about it.

  
  


Toriel thought for a moment and gave a weighted sigh. “I suppose you are right, after all...after today I really am no different than him.” She looked back at the body and then said, “I suppose it's only appropriate that I bury the child. It wouldn't be right to leave them like that,” she said.

  
  


The skeleton replied, “Hey you do what you got to do. I'm heading back home. If you get to Snowdin, be sure to drop by,” he said.

  
  


“I will be sure to-” Toriel began to respond, but when she turned around to talk to Sans directly he had vanished. She hadn’t even heard him leave, although that wasn't the strangest thing she had seen today. Turning back to the body of the child, she knelt down and scooped them up into her arms. She knew where she was going to bury them.

  
  


Time passed as Toriel found herself patting the dirt next to the bed of golden flowers. “Rest in peace small child,” she uttered.

  
  


The quiet burial was interrupted as a familiar annoyance of the ruins revealed themself. “Golly! I never thought you would be the one to do them in!” a high pitched voice wailed out.

  
  


Toriel knew exactly who the voice belonged to, as this creature always attempted to take human lives. “It was an accident. I didn't mean too.”

  
  


“Hehe, it's okay. I've made plenty of accidents too! We're only monsters after all! In a kill or be killed world.” The creature sprouted in front of Toriel -- a small yellow flower with the most unnerving of smiles. “And before you say that's not the world, what did you just do? That's right, you killed! But I’ve got to say this makes this all the more interesting! You can finally free everyone! Even me!” he cackled.

  
  


Toriel grimaced. “Why would I ever free you?” she asked.

  
  


“I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter, Mrs. Dreemurr. Would you keep everyone trapped here just to prevent me from getting out? Ha ha! You really are just like him!”

  
  


Fire engulfed the queen’s paw as she scowled at the flower. “Don't you dare call me that,” she hissed.

  
  


“Whoopsy! I seem to have hit a nerve. Well, I'll leave you too it, it seems like you got a busy day ahead of you! See you later!” and with a wink, the flower retracted back into the ground.

  
  


Toriel slowly got up and started to calm herself down before making her way back home to, for the first time, get a good look at herself. She approached the hallway mirror, and what greeted her shocked her. She looked...younger. Her eyes barely open and what's more her tiny horns were missing as well. Black markings flowed across her cheeks as she noticed one peculiar thing. The bandage that the human wore was now across her cheek. She gently held a paw against it and looked down her body. Her robe had changed slightly. Her sleeves were now a thick and woolly white texture. The faded ribbon that the child also wore was now wrapped around her waist, tied at the back. Twisting to the side she noticed the knot also held the stick that the child had carried. Reaching back, she gripped the bottom of the stick tugging it ever so slightly.

  
  


It was quite secure, so she left it alone and stared at herself  in the mirror, thoughtfully. “Well… I should ask if they are ready to go...” she said, closing her eyes. 'My child, are you ready to leave?' she asked as a voice echoed throughout her mind. “Yes, I want to see what's out there!” Toriel laughed softly. 'Okay okay, despite everything it seems you're going to go through that door… Perhaps it is better this way, that we leave together...' she nodded before making her way back to the exit of the ruins. Stepping through the door she looked back at what was her home for the longest time, before closing the door on the longest chapter of her life thus far.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading up to this point! I am going to leave a link to my AU's tumblr here! 
> 
> https://denature-au.tumblr.com/
> 
> Here you will find chapter art and I will post updates on progress on the fic! The tumblr also has a reference for Toriel's or as I like to call her Torisk's new look! Go check it out and thanks again!


	3. A puzzling journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toriel makes her way through the snowy landscape on her way to the barrier.

**Chapter 2**

 

Toriel stepped out of the ruins, and was greeted by a snowy landscape as far as the eye can see. The snow crunched beneath her feet as she walked forwards, before turning with a shocked bleat as the great door suddenly slammed behind her with a tremendous thud. Narrowly avoiding losing her balance, she collected her bearings and took one last look at the door that was now locked to time. As she studied it, her ears picked up on a very faint noise, almost mechanical, coming from a nearby bush. Not wanting to risk approaching it, Toriel simply walked along the trodden path of snow.

 

Dead forest stood on either side of her as if guiding her down the road. The only noises she could hear now were the crunching of snow and her own breath. Even so, she couldn't help but feel like she was being watched, like many hidden eyes in the forest were staring at her. Of course, no matter how many times she checked there was never actually any monster there. Even with the confirmation of nobody there, that didn't stop her mind from racing. She hadn't been out of the ruins for a long time and now she had company.

 

“Hey, so what are we doing?” the voice that now resided in her mind echoed. She jumped a little, having almost forgotten that they were there.

 

'Well my child, I am taking you to the barrier so we can free the rest of monster kind,' she thought. It felt alien, talking to a soul within her with her thoughts. Could the child hear them all?

 

“Ah, okay. And yes, yes I can,” they replied, and she was shocked that she got a response to her most recent thought.

 

'But what if I wish to keep a secret to protect you?' Toriel thought.

 

Silence was all Toriel could hear as she kept walking, until a good minute later she finally heard, “I guess don't think about it?” This warranted a sigh out of Toriel, but she soon smiled to show she wasn't mad at the child. After all, they probably couldn't help but hear her thoughts. “Watch out!” the voice cried out, and Toriel stopped in her tracks, now paying attention to the road ahead of her. More specifically, the lack thereof: a gap in the ground now blocked their progress, and a wooden structure waited on the other side of the chasm.To her direct left was a rather short sign that she had to kneel to read, written in a strange font.

 

“Greetings! This mind boggling conundrum was brought to you by The Great Papyrus! Please take your time upon solving this puzzle! Remember to have fun and don't forget, you aren't in any real danger!” the sign read. The last part of that message was certainly an oddity; what about a large chasm wasn't dangerous? Toriel stood up, inspecting her surroundings. There didn't seem to be any mechanisms in sight but, then the voice ushered her forward.

 

“Maybe we should drop something down there to see how far it goes?” the child's soul suggested, and she agreed.

 

Picking up a nearby stick, she lifted her paw over the chasm and released the stick. Clank! The stick had simply landed on the chasm, as if it was just suspended in mid-air. Toriel got to her knees and gently put her hand onto the chasm. It was an illusion! A fantastic one at that! The chasm wasn't there to begin with; it was simply wood flooring, very cleverly painted to look exactly like a deep chasm. She stood up and walked towards the structure, noting the door and opening it up. On the other side a party popper went off, covering her head in confetti. A small sign behind the door read out a celebratory message, “Congratulations on solving the puzzle! I hope you had fun! I told you, you weren't in any real danger! Nyeh heh heh!”

 

Slightly further ahead was a familiar face: Sans. The skeleton had noticed her and began to make their way over to her. He gave a soft chuckle. “So you figured out my brother’s puzzle huh? That's great, I was worried you'd be stuck there forever,” he said with a smile.

 

“Why didn't you help me if you were this close then?” she asked.

 

“Eh, I made a promise to my brother that if he showed me the solutions to them, I wouldn't reveal them to other monsters,” shrugged the stout skeleton as he continued. “Ever since he put his full focus on puzzle making, he's gotten really good at it!” he complimented.

 

“For a good moment, I actually thought it was a real chasm!” Toriel smiled before Sans added a rather harrowing fact.

 

“Oh! It actually is a real chasm...you just can't fall down it. Unless you really try too,” he said with a smile.

 

“But, then how?”

 

“Eh, I said I promised not to tell...” he gave a teasing chuckle again.

 

Toriel folded her arms and shook her head, not wanting to think on it any longer than she had to -- after all, she had a job to do. She walked slightly ahead of Sans and continued talking. “You'll have to introduce me to your brother at some point, Sans. He sounds delightful,” she said as she turned to face him and yet again, he had vanished. He seemed to be really good at that. 'Maybe he just doesn't like saying goodbye?' she thought.

 

After a few more minutes of walking and passing some guard dogs, Toriel came across another sign in front of a large snow plowed square surface. Once again the sign was very low, kneeling down she began to read “Nyeh heh heh! Welcome to the invisible maze of refraction! To solve this puzzle you just have to realize there’s no point traveling where you have already tread! Have fun and remember, you’re not in any danger!”.

Toriel got back to her feet and noticed arrows seemingly suspended in mid-air but once again, this Papyrus showed he was a fantastic painter as there was indeed a wall. Looking to where the arrow was pointing she noticed a reflection of herself staring back at her. It was a reflection right? She approached it and reached out to touch it and ended up discovering it was indeed a mirror. She felt around the mirror before her and noted there were more disguised walls blocking progress. Looking to either side of her, she noticed another reflection of herself to the right.

 

She walked towards it, getting right up to it before stopping and feeling around it too. She noticed she had reached a dead end, with more disguised walls to either side. She began to make her way back in thought, walking past the first mirror and further on. She nearly jumped as she saw her reflection walk alongside her, a little past the first mirror. She took a step back to double check that it was yet another mirror, which set her mind racing, trying to figure out what this meant. She took a few more steps away from the mirror, watching her reflection to see if anything was different there, before realising that there wasn’t a wall behind her.

 

That’s it, She figured it out. The clue was talking about the reflections as if they were also walking through the maze. She kept walking now, looking for any reflections that she could walk away from. She didn’t realize it but she was smiling, this was quite an interesting puzzle and a twist on a hall of mirrors that was quite fun. After a few more mirrors she turned a corner and noticed another person; not a reflection of herself, but a small yellow monster with a sponge tied to his forehead and a bucket of hot water at his feet. He appeared to be cleaning the mirror, jumping up and down to get to the higher parts of the reflective surface as water ran from the sponge on his head. Toriel smiled and approached the monster and politely asked as soft as she could as to not startle them. “Excuse me? Would you like some help?” she asked

 

“Yo!” yelled the monster in a startled manner, almost knocking over the bucket of water as he span around to face her. It wobbled, the soapy liquid sloshing dangerously, but the monster managed to catch it with his tiny clawed feet. “What’s the big idea sneaking up on me like that?” he demanded.  
  
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” Toriel explained politely, “I just wanted to see if you needed he-”   
  
“Yo! I’ve never seen you around here before! Wow, did ya come from the city?” The monster kid waggled from side to side in excitement as he pounded her with questions.   
  
“Actually no, I came from the Ruins,” she replied with a gentle smile “My name is Toriel…”   
  
“Monster Kid is my name! But I like to go by Papyrus’s #1 assistant!” He grinned proudly as he introduced himself, and presumably explained why he was cleaning the mirrors. “Yo! You must have figured out the puzzle if you’ve made it this far in! Papyrus is so cool!” He cheered as he pressed the sponge on his head against the mirror and waggled from side to side to clean it.

 

“I think I’ve figured it out, yes. It’s a simple matter of walking away from your reflection till the end.” Toriel smiled gently.

 

“Yep! You got it!” he said as he kept cleaning the mirror, before bending down to shake the sponge off of his head. He plunged his head in another bucket, splashing around a bit before pulling it out again, revealing a squeegee head attachment that he immediately used to wipe the mirror with his head. “This is the last mirror I gotta clean for today! Do you mind if I follow you to Snowdin?” he asked.

 

Toriel remembered that according to what Sans said back at the ruins, this was on the way to the barrier. She nodded, “That would be delightful.”

 

“Awesome!” He said, jumping up high to take long downward swipes at the mirror to finalize the cleaning. “Aaaaaand done!” he said then grabbing the buckets handle with his teeth.

 

“Do you need me to carry that for you?” Toriel offered.

 

“No thampfs, I goth it,” the child mumbled through the bucket handle.

 

Toriel couldn’t help but smile at how this monster coped so easily without arms, something that she now realized she took for granted. But seeing how he did all these things with a huge smile on his face filled her with something. She wasn’t quite sure what this feeling was but it was doing wonders for her confidence.

 

The two walked quietly through the hall of refraction, until eventually they reached the exit and yet again a party popper showerred Toriel and Monster Kid in confetti. A sign greeted them; “Congratulations on solving the invisible maze of refraction! You could have just walked around the entire puzzle but I am glad that you didn’t! Nyeh heh heh! I hope you had fun.” Toriel raised a brow at that statement, as she cleaned her fur of confetti. She left the maze and followed the outside of it to the edge, and found that Papyrus’ sign was not wrong; there was a gap in the maze structure that meant she could have just walked around it.  
  
Monster Kid just grinned up at Toriel chuckling through the handle “But ifph you skipped this you wouldn’t have met me!”.   
  
“A valid point, I am glad I did not skip it,” she smiled back as they began to walk to Snowdin.

 

Toriel had a lot of questions to ask, but didn’t want to make the Monster Kid struggle by trying to talk with his mouth full, so instead a lot of the walk occured in silence. Monster Kid didn’t seem to mind, instead just being happy to have company walking alongside him. Eventually they came to a bridge with yet another sign in front of it; “Greetings! Welcome to the final puzzle before Snowdin! I do not wish to prevent travel to and from the town as that would be unfair to the residents! So I present to you the gauntlet of fluffy cuddles!” Toriel looked up, past the sign and noted a bridge, above which there were just a lot of soft toys suspended on strings. Monster Kid ran across the bridge through the mass of cuddly toys, disappearing into them with a laugh as Toriel stood, a little confused. Whether by how quickly the sheer density of plushies hid Monster Kid, or how they also managed to hide whatever they were hanging from, she was not sure.

 

Toriel shook her head; this didn’t seem like a puzzle, just a bit of fun. She followed behind Monster Kid, walking through all manner of soft toys; teddy bears, rabbits, goats ,wolves and more. Many of them she gently pushed aside with her hands, but a few gently struck her face and made her giggle. Reaching the end of the bridge, Toriel thought she was ready; the party popper went off but this time Toriel grabbed one of the hanging soft toys, whipping it in front of her  to block the confetti. She smiled, but then another one went off behind her. Monster Kid fell back into the snow, roaring with laughter as Toriel unamusedly picked silly string off of her robes. “Yo! No matter how many times I see monsters try that it never gets any less funny!”

 

Toriel ran her paws through her fur once again, cleaning it of confetti before looking up. “Yo! Papyrus check it out! Someone new!” Monster kid cheered as he ran towards a tall skeleton  wearing what could only be described as a very thrown together showmans outfit. A jacket with long coat-tails, rolled up sleeves, a top hat and even a dickie bow to tie the entire outfit together.

 

“Nyeh heh heh! And judging by the confetti she has solved some of my puzzles!” the skeleton announced in a reedy voice.

 

“She solved the invisible maze of refraction whilst I was cleaning it!” Monster Kid smiled.

 

“Is that so? Well then congratulations are in order! Most Monsters just walk around that one now! I am the great and mystical Papyrus! And who might you be?” He asked pointing his cane at Toriel.

 

“Oh, hello. My name is Toriel,” she replied with a smile.

 

“It is a pleasure to meet a lover of puzzles! What brings you to Snowdin?” Papyrus asked with a cheerful grin.  
  
“Oh, I’m just passing through to get to the barrier. Your brother Sans suggested that I take the…” she winced, hesitating a little before continuing, “the human soul to the barrier.”

 

The atmosphere seemed to turn sour. Monster Kid rushed behind Papyrus, hiding behind his boney legs as the skeletons jovial tone turned serious “And how did you come about this soul?” he inquired cautiously.

 

“It was an accident...I wanted to test them...Make sure they were ready for the journey ahead but...I let my mind slip and accidentally murdered them…” she explained, bringing a paw to her chest “I can still talk to them and they have forgiven me, I think?” She felt a gentle warmth in her chest, which was the only response she needed.

 

Papyrus stared at her thoughtfully before once again adopting his showman like persona. “Well then! I can escort you to the end of Snowdin and send you on your way, but I do warn you to be careful…” he said before continuing as he began to walk away motioning her to follow. “Ahead lies Waterfall, and a monster who is so wretched that they would do anything to fulfill their duty…”

 

An ominous silence fell, before he began to speak again, “But I’m sure you’ll manage! You beat some of my puzzles after all! A smart cookie like you will surely find a way!” he praised as he lead her through the quaint, snowy town.

 

“Oh, well thank you for the warning, great and mystical Papyrus!” Toriel thanked him, “I will be sure to keep that in mind.” It did not take long for them to arrive at the end of Snowdin. She turned to Papyrus with a gentle smile, about to thank him again but stopping short as he set his hand on her shoulder.

 

“I am not jesting,” he said in his grave tone again, “if you see this monster, run. Do not try to reason with it…” He nodded, prompting her to reply in kind, before retracting his hand. “Number One Assistant, to me!” he cheered, suddenly the showman again, “We have some confetti poppers to reset!”

 

Monster Kid happily got to his side and began to follow Papyrus away from Toriel after yelling back, “Good luck Toriel! Be sure to come back and visit!”

 

Toriel waved at the leaving duo. “I’ll be sure to come back and try out more of your puzzles! They were fun!”

 

Then she was alone again. Although with her current circumstance she was never truly alone; “Why didn’t you grab one of the soft toys to keep?” the soul inside of her asked.

 

‘Because young one, that would be stealing. don’t worry, we’ll head back there when we’re done and I’ll buy one just for you.’ She responded in kind. She felt a warm glow in response, before continuing to walk on; ahead of them the snow started to dissipate, signalling the entrance to Waterfall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be sure to check out https://denature-au.tumblr.com/
> 
> Too keep up to date on my progress with this story :)


	4. Through the Waterfalls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toriel journeys through the realm of Waterfall to find out that no every monster is so friendly.

**Chapter 3**

 

Toriel wandered through this beautiful landscape filled with the most peculiar of flowers. It was incredible that such a place of peace and tranquillity could exist here in the underground, with flowers that would repeat the last things they heard to passers-by that just so happen to stray close enough to their stem. The sounds of falling water and the trickling of nearby streams was very soothing to her, so much so that she started to hum a soft tune to express her elated mood. This however was short lived.

 

“Yo! Y-you can't just do that! I-It isn't right!” a familiar voice rang out. Looking down, she had noticed an echo flower near her foot which repeated itself once more. Toriel, perplexed by what the echo flower repeated, decided to follow to the next flower to see if they could add any details to this dialogue. “But they haven't done anything wrong! How is it fair?!” It was certainly the same voice, although it sounded more desperate than the last.

 

Before she could continue to the next flower, a shiver rippled over her entire body. She felt an overpowering presence, something that she could not explain. As she began to turn around, a bright red energy spear stabbed into the ground beside her, making her stumble away in fright. 

 

Toriel’s eyes snapped to where the spear had come from. An armoured figure, arm cocked back as it readied another spear. Toriel remembered the warning Papyrus had given her. She turned tail and ran.

 

Spears struck the ground as Toriel rushed forwards. She ran into a field of tall grass in hopes of losing her pursuer. Magic attacks scraped her fur as the onslaught got closer. Snippets of grass littered the air from spears slicing through them. Toriel tried to zig zag through the grass to dodge the weapons hurtling towards her. 

 

Running without time to think, she tripped over a loose root, falling face first into the undergrowth. Dazed by the fall, she set her paws onto the wet ground to push herself up back to her feet.

 

The heavy clank of the armour made its way through the fields of grass, stopping momentarily. Frozen and low to the ground she held her breath, hoping that the monster could not see her. Maybe it would give up its pursuit. Her hopes were dashed, however, as the sound of multiple energy weapons being summoned could be heard. Afraid, she did not want to see what was happening. Were they going to pepper the grass with their spears?

 

Suddenly many bright red spears rushed through the grass. One pierced straight through her, and a blinding pain surged through her body as she screamed, the force throwing her into the dirt again. “No! I must get to the barrier!” Toriel shouted, trying to pull herself upright, “You won't stop me you m-!” The last thing she saw was a spear heading straight to her face. 

 

She found herself yet again laying in the long grass, the sounds of energy weapons being summoned filling the air. Toriel simply smiled 'Deja-vu...Thank you child.'

 

The child flashed her a fleeting feeling of gratitude, but the sense of underlying alarm was unmistakable. “You're welcome,” the child whispered in a hushed tone as Toriel laid flat out on her back. The assault happened again, but the spear that previously skewered her narrowly missed this time, sailing straight over her. Silence filled the air, and soon, the predictable clanking of armour followed. Whoever this monster was, they seemed to be leaving this area and giving up pursuit. Slowly sitting up and catching her breath, Toriel gave a sigh of utter relief. She had survived, but only thanks to the child. 'My child, how did you do that?' she inquired in her head.

 

“Oh! I just didn't want to see you pass in such a horrible way and the scenario just kind of… reset. Maybe what Sans talked about is something I can do too!” The child sounded very excited at this prospect.

 

'It is a wonderful gift to be certain, Small One, but we shouldn't abuse it. We don't know how often we can use it after all. That and, getting speared like that kind of smarts,' she said giving a gentle giggle. Toriel could almost visually see the child nodding firmly in agreement in her mind, which filled her with determination to keep going forward. 

 

Continuing on, Toriel approached a mighty waterfall which was hurling rocks downstream. It seemed time for admiring the beauty of the scenery was short-lived however; the familiar sound of clanking armour filled the area. “Quickly, behind the waterfall!” the child's voice rang out within her mind. Toriel wasted no time, dodging the incoming rocks as she dived behind the waterfall. She found a cave behind it, where she quickly ducked behind a rock and stayed quiet.

 

The bulky silhouette of her pursuer slowly passed by. They didn't even attempt to dodge the rocks, instead just smashing them out of the way. It made for a a scarily impressive show of strength, and Toriel had to fight to keep her breathing steady. Moments passed before the heavy clanking of armour could no longer be heard. 'Thank you small one,' she thought, showing her gratitude. She did wonder how this child knew that this area existed behind the waterfall. 

 

“Oh you know, deja vu?” the child's soul responded to the vacant pondering. Toriel was about to reply, but stopped herself as she turned around to look into the cave; she saw a familiar pink fabric laying down on the ground.

 

Approaching it, she recognised it: a pink tutu. She remembered that this belonged to one of the children that fell down here long ago. Thoughts of the child that could effortlessly dodge her fireball attacks with a dazzling display of dance-like combat she had never seen before or since passed through her mind. She picked up the fabric and noticed it had been pierced. Blood stained the scarred piece of clothing. She quickly dropped it in shock.

 

‘Did that monster do this?’ She picked up the tutu and laid it flat neatly on the ground and stood in front of it, holding her hands in front of her. 

 

Silently, she stood as the child spoke out, “We should get moving, before that monster comes back!” they advised, and Toriel nodded.

 

'Agreed, I was just paying my respects...' she said with a soft sniff before leaving the hiding place and proceeding onwards. More and more echo flowers dotted the path ahead. Some of them were just spouting gossip. But one flower stood out amongst the others; was it Papyrus's voice? “Nyeh! Undyne, I need to talk to you about some rumours! I heard you plan on killing the child?” That voice was unmistakably the dazzling skeleton's. Toriel moved to another flower. “But I thought we were just meant to capture them?! Surely they don't need to die?!”

 

Another flower repeated past conversations. “Orders?! B-But isn't it a guards job to protect the innocent?! The child has done nothing wrong!” Did Papyrus want to be a royal guard? The flowers then proceeded to echo Papyrus pleading with this Undyne character to show mercy to the child but the last time she heard one with the skeleton's shrill voice, it uttered, “W-Well! If that's the case, I don't want to be in the royal guard! Especially if a barbaric ruffian like you leads the pack!” Toriel couldn't help but smile at Papyrus's decision to not be a part of unnecessary bloodshed, and now understood his reaction when she had told him that she had absorbed a human soul by accident.

 

Shortly after that flower, she noticed strange red circles appearing around her person. Spears shot upward out of each circle, narrowly missing Toriel. She guessed that these attacks must have been coming from this Undyne she had heard about via the flower. Without a moment to spare, she began to run, dodging spear after spear. Some almost hit her, but she was too quick witted to get hit by such attacks. The child’s soul shared some credit for this, as ever since she absorbed it, Toriel had been feeling more energetic than ever. She could see the circles predicting the spears easily enough, but avoiding the ones she was running towards might have been beyond her before. Remembering the dancing child’s agile moves helped. Toriel almost started to find fun in dodging these attacks, but it was short lived as she realized she had hit a dead end. 

 

She turned around and came face to face with the armoured figured, mere feet separating the two from each other. “Undyne, is it? Why are you doing this?! I have done nothing to you!” Toriel demanded. 

 

The monster reached for their helmet and slowly began to take it off. It slid off effortlessly to reveal a blue faced female with gills down her neck. What Toriel had taken to be just the plume of a helmet turned out to be the monster’s hair tied into a ponytail. Both of her eyes trained onto Toriel with a fire burning brightly behind them. Her left eye was a blinding white with a scar running down it that she didn’t seem to hide.   
  
“By the order of King Asgore, I have been ordered to capture human souls and escort them back to the capitol,” she began to speak. “Thanks to the surveillance team, I know that you are harboring a human soul within you. I must rip it out from you,” she said, her teeth set in a savage snarl. 

 

“But you’d have to kill me to get to it! A royal guard’s first duty is to protect their people! Surely you must know that being captain!?” Toriel pleaded.   
  
“That was before we lost the heirs to the throne,” Undyne pointed out. “Times change, and in order to protect the people I must first release them from the shackles the humans have put us in!” The knight flexed one arm, a spear of crimson light appearing in her hand. “Enough talk, now die!” She hurled the lance at  Toriel, who raised her arms to protect herself as best she could. The spear shattered against her braced forearms, but Toriel grunted in pain as she felt it tear at her very being; she wouldn’t survive many hits like that one. 

 

Toriel glanced over her block, seeing Undyne already throwing another spear. Suddenly a high pitched chime rang out as a bone erupted from the ground, blocking Undyne’s shot as both attacks shattered harmlessly. Lowering her arms, Toriel saw Papyrus standing a few feet behind Undyne. “Enough is enough Undyne! I won’t let you kill her needlessly!” he yelled. “Number Two, you know what to do!”    
  
“Yo! I’m on it!” yelled another voice excitedly as Monster Kid rushed past Undyne to headbutt Toriel in the gut hard, sending them both over the edge of the bridge. Air rushing past them, Toriel grabbed Monster Kid and pulled him close, making sure her back was to the floor so she would take the brunt of the fall. After all, if she died she could reset, but if she didn’t cusion Monster Kid’s fall... 

 

Toriel’s thought mattered little however; amazingly, they landed on a remarkably soft bed of flowers. Monster Kid just gave a huge toothy grin as he jumped to his feet, still stood on Toriel’s stomach. “Yo! That was awesome! Are you okay?” he asked.

 

“Yes, I believe so…” she replied,  leaning a little more upright with her elbows to the ground. “Did you know these flowers were here?”    
  
“Yep! That’s why I tackled you! I knew you were going to be fine!” Monster Kid explained. “Yo! We should get up and keep moving before Undyne gets down here too! Follow me! I know the quickest way to Hotlands! Undyne hates it there!” He  jumped off of Toriel and was already running ahead before she had even stood up. 

 

Toriel slowly got to her feet, looking around as she did so. She noticed they were in some sort of dump. Shrugging, she began to follow the energetic boy. “So, I heard some conversations you and Papyrus had with Undyne from the Echo Flowers… Seems you two didn’t see eye to eye with her?” she inquired.   
  
Monster Kid snorted a bit to hide a laugh.“Heh, that’s funny… she’s got one eye…” he explained before answering, “Yeah, she wanted to kill a human! I mean, yeah humans are the reason we are trapped down here, but that human certainly had nothing to do with that! They were nice and even played hide and seek with me when no-one else would...Other monsters think I’ll cheat because I can’t cover my eyes…” 

 

“I see. I’m guessing you were the one who told Papyrus about Undyne’s plan for the human?” she asked.   
  
“Yeah! He was none too happy, neither was I, I was Undyne’s biggest fan before then, but when I saw Papyrus stand up to her and told her to get stuffed --” Suddenly Toriel glared at Monster kid.   
  
“Language young man,” she said with a maternal glare.

 

“Oh...right, sorry. When he told her to get lost, I wanted to be more like Papyrus in every way! He is so cool, not like Undyne who thinks killing innocent humans is a good thing.” He furrowed his brow showing his disdain for Undyne. “The human left the safety of Snowdin but I wanted to do something to help them, so I followed them from a distance… I thought maybe I could keep an eye out for Undyne, so you know, maybe I could warn them if I see her.”    
  
“Yes, I understand… That’s a very noble thing you did…” she smiled, petting his head affectionately. “I should bake you a pie for such bravery.”    
  
“Yo! I love pie! That would be super cool, but uh… as you can guess, I wasn’t a very good lookout… Undyne got to them and already had their soul in a container. I um… called her some things and used words you wouldn’t like…” he said sheepishly at the end.   
  
“That’s okay, I probably would have said something vulgar as well in your shoes,” she said as they continued to walk through the last stretch of the garbage dump. The familiar sounds of trickling streams filled their ears as Monster Kid lead her to the end of Waterfall. 

 

A tall cavernous mouth could be seen in the distance. “Yo! There it is, the entrance to Hotlands! Should be smooth sailing from here!” he cheered happily wagging his body from side to side as if doing some sort of celebratory dance.

 

“Thank you for your assistance, when I have finished my journey I’ll be sure to come back and reward you with one of my pies!” She smiled proudly as she kneeled down to him and gave him a hug. “You take care of yourself,” she said as she stood up and made her way to the entrance. 

 

As she got closer to the gaping maw of the cave, a red spear shot down and blocked her path. She stopped, just narrowly avoiding getting skewered. “You thought you could get by me that easily?!” Undyne declared as she pointed a spear directly at Toriel. “Your soul is getting contained whether you like it or not!”   
  
“Enough of this! It is clear that you will not quit...but know this; if you strike me down, no-one will cheer your name!” Toriel hurled back.   
  
“I don’t care about glory, I care about my duty! If history writes me down as the bad guy, then so be it! But Monsters far in the future will know me as the captain that did everything she could to free Monsterkind!” the warrior retorted.

 

“Yes, but at what cost?! How many innocents have you slaughtered in order to free Monsters!?” Toriel demanded. 

 

“Fuhuhu! You think there’s such thing as an innocent human?! What tripe! They are all responsible for the injustices of their species, even the ones that sit idly by and let it happen! Humans are sneaky and pretend to be nice just to get what they want!” she said with a boisterous guffaw before summoning more spears in the air. “But I’ve indulged you with talk long enough! The war between Humans and Monsters ends now!” she screamed as she hurled the spears directly at Toriel.   
  
“No!” A cry rang out followed by a piercing scream of pain before dust scattered in the wind leaving in its wake a harrowing silence...


	5. Fatal resets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things are just constant.

Chapter 4

 

Silence emanated from the two monsters that faced each other, the trickling of water below them the only noise to be heard. “N-No,” Undyne murmured, “but... why?” 

 

Toriel stood in relative silence, her eyes beginning to dampen as she watched the dust breeze by her. ‘No, not like this!’ she thought clenching her fist and forced a reset. 

 

She successfully reset to the point before the sacrifice. Undyne stood before her, spear raised once more. “Fuhuhu! You think there’s such thi-”   
  
“Stop talking! Please just listen to me!” Toriel pleaded, “It doesn’t have to be like this! Just let me go!” Her voice shook with the knowledge that there was little chance of reasoning with this monster.

 

“You dare interrupt me?!” Undyne growled, “Fine! If you aren’t going to listen to me then I will just finish this!” The warrior’s arm cocked back, spear poised to throw. “Die!” she screamed.   
  
“No!” That familiar cry rang out as Undyne threw her spear forward again. Another sacrifice. Toriel growled in frustration as she concentrated yet again, forcing another reset as that cry of pain tore at her heart.

 

Once again, Undyne and Toriel stood face to face to each other. But before Undyne could even speak “Undyne, please just listen to me. You don’t want to do this. It won’t result in what you think. A kid sacrifices themselves by throwing themselves in front of your spear!” Toriel informed her, desperate to stop the next events to transpire. Her eyes were already wet just at the thought of what she was trying to prevent.

 

“Fuhuhu!” Undyne laughed. “What utter tripe! As if a monster would sacrifice themselves for a human soul!” She jabbed the spear in Toriel’s direction. “Even you killed a human, so you have no right to talk to me like this!” 

 

Toriel felt a pang in her heart before sighing “Just, please use some mercy.” she requested.   
  
“Worry not, your death will be quick and painless,”. Undyne said with a hint of pride in her voice “For the betterment of Monsterkind, die!”  Yet again she lunged forward with her spear.

 

“No!” Monster kid yelled but before the spear could even start the event Toriel shoved Monster Kid out of the way only to take the spear herself causing yet another reset to occur.

 

Undyne stood before her again, spear raised and mouth opening into a cruel laugh. The warrior paused for a moment, blinking at Toriel, before shaking her head to regain her composure. Toriel moved before the knight opened her eyes again, hastily darting into the bush where Monster Kid was hiding. “I’m not sure you’ll remember this but please, don’t sacrifice yourself for me,” Toriel pleaded to the startled child, “You’re just a chi-” Pain lanced through her back. Monster Kid’s eyes narrowed in shock, tears welling in the corners. Shaking, Toriel looked down that to see Undyne’s spear had gone straight through her and into Monster Kid’s stomach. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ Toriel thought before yet again a reset occurred.

 

The familiar scene played out before her. She tried running, only for Undyne to throw the spear followed by that familiar cry of pain. She tried defending herself, only for Undyne’s attack to run through Monster Kid and into her. She tried attacking Undyne first, only for the warrior to dodge her attack, knock her down, and skewer Monster Kid as he bravely headbutted Toriel out of the way of the plunging spear. Reset after reset, Toriel tried everything she could imagine. Different actions always ended with one of the same three results; her death, Monster Kid’s sacrifice, or both. There just had to be another way! There just had to be!

 

Once again she reset but this time, she appeared in a black void. This place felt alien to her,  yet familiar. A long, haunting gust of wind howled around her, seemingly the only thing that occupied this plane of existence, but somebody came. “Toriel, down here…” A familiar voice spoke from behind her. Turning around and adjusting her vision downward, she couldn’t believe her eyes; it was the child, the one she had murdered and absorbed. 

 

She got down to her knees. “Child? B-but you’re dead?...” She inquired. 

 

The child responded with a simple nod but then spoke softly “I brought you here because someone wants to talk to you.”   
  
“Here? But whom?” She asked as the child pointed to their right, at Monster Kid. He seemed to have lost all colour in his appearance, a completely gray palette having replaced the once bright scales of the Monster. Toriel got up and slowly approached the monster.   
  
“Let me go…” he simply requested, his head lowered.   
  
“Excuse me?” Toriel responded with a confused expression.   
  
“Let me go. I know this sounds weird but, I want this.” Kid explained quietly.   
  
“You... want to die?” Toriel asked, her eyes beginning to water.   
  
“It’s not as simple as that, but there’s no other way.” He stated. He looked up at her, his own eyes wet even as he smiled softly.   
  
“No!” Toriel snapped, “You’re wrong, there has to be a way!”   
  
“How many times do I have to die until you’re satisfied?!” Monster Kid yelled back, growling. 

 

Toriel was taken aback by that question. She had lost count at how many attempts she had made to save Monster Kid that she hadn’t even thought of it like that. 

 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell li-” Monster Kid started to apologise, but Toriel put her hand up to stop him. 

 

“N-No, it’s okay...I am so sorry, I didn’t even see it like that,” Toriel explained. “I was so focused on not having another child’s death on my hands that I completely forgot about the feelings of the child in question.” 

  
“That’s why you have to let me go…” Monster Kid pleaded. ”Besides, it’s kind of nice… dying for a noble purpose, it’s kind of what I always wanted… but repeatedly, yeah it kind of sucks. “ He said giving a big toothy grin.   
  
“I can imagine.” She said with a with a soft giggle before pulling Monster Kid into a hug “You sacrificed yourself for me and yet I only know you as Papyrus’s number 1 assistant… can I at least get a name to remember you by?” she asked.   
  
“Call me Goner,” he said with a smile “Now please, let me go…” He said as Toriel released him from the hug and wiped a stray tear from her cheek. 

 

She got up and walked back to the child. “Okay, let’s go back…last time, I promise.” She said as the child smiled and began to glow with a warm light and once again they found themselves in that very familiar scenario. 

 

Undyne began to speak.“Fuhuhu! You think there’s such thing as an innocent human?! What…” the warrior trailed off, apparently confused as Toriel simply stood strong with her paws together in front of her, as if in mourning. She glanced around, before looking back at Toriel and stamping her foot as she continued. “What tripe! They are all responsible for the injustices of their species, even the ones that sit idly by and let it happen! Humans are sneaky and pretend to be nice just to get what they want!” She shouted, pointing her spear at Toriel. Toriel had nothing to say, as the first of her tears began to drip from her muzzle preemptively. 

 

Undyne cocked a brow, lowering her spear slightly in a momentary glimpse of hesitation before she shook her head and refocused “Bah! Enough talk! Die!” she screamed as she tossed her spear at her target. 

 

“No!” Monster kid screamed out, darting out of the bush before shrieking in pain and dusting before their very eyes.   
  
Toriel stood still in her mournful position, as the wind wailed around them. It carried the dust in a circle around her, almost as a quiet gesture of gratitude before sweeping it away into the underground. She looked at Undyne with sorrow in her eyes as the warrior fell to her knees “N-No… but why?” Undyne uttered.

 

Toriel walked over to Undyne, it was easy to tell that the captain was mournful but it quickly turned to anger as she snapped her head to glare daggers at Toriel “Y-You! You just stood there! Like you knew it was going to happen!” She yelled.   
  
Toriel nodded “Yes, I did,” she admitted, “but don’t think for a second I haven’t tried to stop it.”   
  
“But you didn’t, you just stood there! Looking holier than thou! You make me sick!” Undyne snarled before summoning yet another crimson spear.   
  
Toriel hissed, summoning fire magic into her paws, roaring red flames that cast her face in a crimson glow. “Don’t you dare even think about making that child’s sacrifice in vain!” she shouted.   
  
Undyne stared at Toriel, her breath wavering and sweat beading on her face before the intensity of Toriel’s flames. The spear wobbled in her grip before disappearing as she gave a heavy sigh. “Fine, you win,” she said spitting on the ground. 

 

Toriel shook her head, the fire around her dying. “Believe me, with what I went through...I don’t feel like a winner,” she said, offering a paw to Undyne to help her stand. 

 

Undyne swatted the paw away and got to her feet alone. “I don’t need your help,” she spat, turning to leave. 

 

Toriel shook her head. “Don’t you want to know it?” she asked.   
  
“Know what?” Undyne glared over her shoulder at Toriel.   
  
“What my name is. You tried killing me and I know your name, but you don’t know mine,” she explained.   
  
“Getting attached to a target is a bad idea,” Undyne grunted, before sighing as her shoulders drooped, “but seeing as you’re no longer mine, and you seem to be heading to the barrier… I’ll bite; what’s your name?”   
  
“Toriel.” the motherly monster answered.   
  
Undyne fixed her a flat stare for a second. “Wait, Toriel?” Her eyebrows quirked upwards.  _ “The  _ Toriel? As in  _ Asgore’s ex _ Toriel? As in  _ The Queen?”  _   
  
Toriel nodded quietly. “The same, but please don’t speak of Asgore in front of me. The name makes me nauseous,” she simply spoke.   
  
Undyne looked away, evidently stunned. “I almost killed the queen… A royal guard, killing the queen…” She picked up her helmet, staring at her reflection in its polished face for a few moments. Angrily she threw it into the nearby stream, watching as it carried it over the edge of the waterfall and dropped out of sight. “I need some time to think… you’re free to go,” the guard said, as she turned around and began walking away while slowly unbuckling her armour. Clank after clank echoed throughout the land of waterfall as the armour fell and rested on the ground.    
  
Toriel watched the mournful royal guard leave the scene. She wondered what thoughts were going through the knight’s head as she turned and began to make her way forward through Waterfall. She eventually stumbled upon a obnoxiously huge electronic sign with scrolling text that read “Welcome to Hotlands.” Toriel pressed forward as she could feel the air around her become hotter.  She was then slightly taken aback by how drastically the scenery changed; one moment she was in a cool, water filled land of stunning tranquil beauty, and then in a few short steps she was surrounded by rugged rocks and lava.

 

The heat was almost unbearable as Toriel crossed a bridge over a lava flow, but one thing made the situation a little bit more comfortable; a water cooler stood alone in the middle of this barren land. Wasting no time, Toriel took a cup and began to help herself to water. This gave her some time to think about what Undyne said, and that she would eventually have to talk to Asgore once more in order to get to the barrier. Shuddering at the thought she necked another cup of water before refilling it for another drink. 

 

Toriel didn’t want to spend any longer in Hotland than she needed to, so she finished her final cup of water before continuing to soldier on. Eventually she would stumble upon a huge imposing structure that was simply labeled Lab on yet another obnoxiously large sign. ‘They must have a thing for large signs here’ She giggled softly.

 

To her surprise, the child responded. “Large signs with boring words on them...why couldn’t it have been an arcade?” they asked and this caused Toriel to chortle. 

  
‘Well there’s nowhere else to go but straight through. Shall we my child?’ she asked.   
  
She felt the child’s determined approval, before stepping closer to the door as it opened with a mechanical swoosh. She could barely see the inside of the building but she had no choice but to press forward. Toriel walked in and began coughing a feeling of creeping dread filling every fibre of her being. The door behind her quickly swooshed shut leaving her in the dark.  


	6. Dust to dust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toriel explores the dusty seemingly abandoned lab.

**Chapter 5**

 

All Toriel could see was darkness, stretching away around her. Turning around to face the door she came in, Toriel fumbled around the edges of the door-frame in the hope of finding some sort of light-switch. Her attempts were met with vacant wallspace but what she now realised was more concerning was that the door was not responding to any of her movements, staying firmly shut. She was locked in. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she turned away from the door in thought. Suddenly she heard the child's voice; “Um, it's dark in here...” they stated simply.

 

Toriel smiled, reminded of the comforting thought that she was never alone. “Yes it is small one, and I can't seem to find the switch to turn on the lights at the moment.”

 

“You know how to throw fireballs don't you?” the child queried.

 

“Yes, I do...” Toriel responded uncertainly, speaking out loud in an attempt to calm herself.

 

“Why don't you light my stick then?” they asked. 

'Light the stick?' Toriel questioned, not really knowing what the child meant. She soon remembered that the child was carrying a stick when she confronted them. Where was this stick now, she wondered. The child seemed sure it was near-by. Toriel could only assume it would be in one location, the one place she couldn't see no matter how hard she looked. Reaching behind her, her paw trailing the faded ribbon around her waist she felt it, a stick nestled in-between the knot of the bow.

 

Grasping at the stick she slowly began to tug at it in hopes of not untying the bow around her waist. After a few tugs the stick came free, loosening the knot. Toriel took a moment to correct the slackened ribbon before looking at the stick. She twirled a finger around the tip of the twig, making a magical candlelight that illuminated the room but did not damage the stick. She raised it ahead of her to survey her surroundings.

 

Perhaps the room would have been better left in darkness. Papers littered the floor, furniture covered with tiny claw marks adorned the room, but perhaps worst of all was the sheer amount of dust that was in the room. Something terrible had happened here. Toriel couldn't even begin to guess the amount of monsters that must have been dusted here in order to cause such a mess. She pressed forward through the dusty lab, quickly seeing a giant computer terminal that was quietly humming but not displaying anything. Toriel hesitated, before curiosity got the better of the goat and she pressed a random button on the control panel. The computer began to hum louder as the screen flickered on.

 

What Toriel saw on the screen shocked her: camera feeds linked up to the entirety of the underground. Outside her ruins, Snowdin, Waterfall… seeing a feed with herself on it, Toriel pointed her finger around until she located where the camera in the lab was. The illuminating screen was almost hypnotic to stare at, as monsters went about their day unaware of the cameras perversely watching them. She shook her head to regain her focus and noticed that the activation of the computer seemed to turn on all the lab lights. She put out the fire on her stick and tucked it into the ribbon around her waist. She approached a table with many pieces of paper scattered over it, perhaps now she could read them.

 

Picking up a page she realised light wasn't going to help, as whoever wrote these papers had handwriting that was simply abysmal. It reminded her of a doctors writing on a prescription pad, nevertheless she decided to keep searching through the papers in search of answers as to what happened here. After minutes of searching she could find nothing, but looking around she saw a desk that had a notebook opened. Making her way over to the desk she began to look at the book’s pages, to find nothing but strange symbols adorning the pages of this notebook, like hieroglyphs. Even though she couldn't understand what they meant she could at least make out what they were meant to be.

 

She decided to flip through the pages, to find the text seeming more desperate and rushed with each page. It was as if they were written in a hurried fashion, until she reached pages that had only the word ‘determination’ scribbled all over them in different styles and sizes. The pages seemed to deteriorate with each turn, too, claw marks tearing at the edges of the paper as if struggling to turn them. Still no closer to an answer, she closed the notepad and sighed. 

 

Someone cleared their throat behind her, making her jump. A man made of metal stood there, looking rather stern through his tiny spectacles, a lab-coat draped over his shoulders. It was the only attire of clothing he seemed to wear, but the featureless expanse of his metal body made it the only article he might need. Not making any immediate movements Toriel turned to face the robot and waited for him to speak. “So, first question I have for you is how did you get into my lab?” he asked with an electronic tone, simulating vocal patterns, whoever made this robot was certainly good at their craft.

 

“Um… the front door? It just opened and I walked in.” Toriel responded.

 

“That's impossible,” The robot scoffed. “That door only opens for a select few or a large amount of energy, like a human soul for instance.” Something seemed to click in his head as he walked around Toriel “Wait, those markings aren't natural are they… Do you, have a human soul inside of you?” he asked. 

 

Toriel fidgeted with her hands. She was not sure how to respond to this curious robot, but lying wasn't going to get her anywhere so she quickly decided to answer honestly. “Yes… I didn't mean to kill them, but- ” 

 

She was immediately cut off by an elated cheer from the robot. “Oh that's wonderful darling! Maybe now we can fix this horrible predicament we got ourselves into!”

 

“Wonderful? I fail to see how a child's death is wonderful,” Toriel retorted.

 

“Oh! Forgive me, I didn't mean it like that!” the android laughed nervously, “It's just well, my creator was experimenting with a special element that seems to give humans their power, which she decided to call ‘determination’ for want of a better term. She was trying to see if she could replicate the effects of a human soul so that we wouldn’t have to kill more humans; we would just need one monster with a pseudo-human soul, then clone them six times! But...” The robots tone lowered with dismay. Even the various lights across his metallic body seemed to dim.

 

“But?” Toriel ushered.

 

“Well, she had monster test subjects she could have used, but she didn't feel justified in doing so. Instead, she did the bravest - or in this case stupidest - thing she could ever do; she ran the experiment on herself.” The robot sighed. “At first things seemed to be going well; she developed markings across much of her body similar to what you have on your face and calves, but… Over time she seemed to get more twitchy. She started to lose all ability to concentrate, and then… her limbs started to melt off her body.” He shuddered quite visibly. 

 

Toriel followed suit at the mere thought of a monster melting before her very eyes. “Is… she still around?” she asked hesitantly.

 

“In a sense… She’s still breathing and at times I can see glimpses of her shining through what she has become…” The robot said with a sigh, before brightening up. “But maybe being in close proximity to a pure human soul will fix something! Would you please come with me?” he asked, already walking towards a door out of the lab, “I will make sure no harm comes to you, you have my word. I will warn you though her behaviour can be quite... erratic.” 

 

“I suppose it won’t hurt if it’s to help someone. By the way, what is your name?” Toriel inquired.

 

“Mettaton, temporary head royal scientist,” He said with a small smile.

 

“Toriel…” the goat replied. Mettaton nodded and stepped through the door, motioning for her to follow.  As she entered, Toriel recognised the inside of an elevator. Mettaton pressed a single button and, with an electronic swoosh, the doors slid closed and the elevator began to descend. “I must advise against sudden movements around her. She can get rather skittish around others…” he advised. 

 

Toriel nodded calmly before asking “What are you hoping to achieve by bringing me with you?”

 

“Well, I think what’s making her unstable is she doesn’t have enough of that ‘determination’. I think - well, I hope - that you just being there will bolster what little she has inside of her. It’s unlikely, probably, but I’m willing to give this a try,” he posited. 

 

The elevator came to a stop and the door opened, to reveal a sterile corridor. Mettaton evidently tried his best to keep at least this section tidy. He strode out of the elevator as Toriel followed close behind him. The pair walked in silence before ending up at a huge set of double doors. Mettaton placed one hand on the door before him, before stopping to look at Toriel. “Now I must warn you, what you are about to see is not going to be pretty,” he explained. “Please do not react with disgust, though… It hurts her feelings.” 

 

“I understand…” Toriel said with a firm nod, and Mettaton unlocked four different locks before carefully opening the door. A dim glow emitted from the room, and Toriel saw a small TV set that seemed to be playing some manner of cartoon. A pile of blankets with wires crawling into them sat heaped on the ground in front of the TV, the coloured lights playing across the fabric as the picture moved. It was a few moments before the goat realised that the pattern on the blanket was shifting slightly too, and something underneath was shuffling about. Mettaton leaned towards Toriel and whispered, “Please stay here for a moment.” She nodded, and he stepped into the room, metallic heels clicking against the tiles as he approached the mountain of quilts. “Alphys? Sweetie? I’ve got some news for you,” he said, his synthetic voice giving a sincerely delicate tone.   
  
“What… is...?” a raspy voice wheezed in reply.    
  
“Well, I know you don’t like visitors much, but this one is very important Alphys… They might be able to he-” But before he could finish Alphys responded.   
  
“Hush… best… part…” the blanketed bulge replied. As if to point this out, a boney  finger emerged from the blanket to point at the TV screen. The skin of the digit seemed gooey, almost fluid and dripping, and the little amount of hand that Toriel saw beyond it was pallid and clammy. In stark contrast, the characters on the screen - humans, surprisingly - seemed to be happy and hugging each other. One of them appeared to have cat ears. Toriel smiled at the sweet imagery before turning her attention back to the finger. As she watched, it seemed to melt completely and dropped, a lumpy mass falling to the floor and shattering into dust. She couldn’t help but feel her stomach turn.

 

Mettaton waited for the scene to be over before continuing “As I was saying Alphys, they may be able to help you get back to normal.” He finished. 

 

The blankets seemed to shift and convulse. Toriel assumed the person beneath was turning to face Mettaton, but the ripples of the fabric moved every which way. Eventually, the fluid suggestion of a pointed muzzle pushed out from beneath the covers, a parted maw of drooling flesh and gummy reptilian teeth. Dripping and dissolving into dust at every movement, the creature responded “Can’t… help… damage… done… send… home…”

 

“But Alphys, don’t you at least want to try? What if this is the moment we’ve been waiting for? You see it’s a monster named Toriel who has absorbed a human soul…” he explained to Alphys. 

 

The mass seemed to pause for thought before shifting, the muzzle slowly turning to point towards Toriel. There was a glint from the TV’s light under the covers, suggesting brilliant eyes. “Human… Soul? Powerful… Maybe…” She struggled to speak as her mouth constantly shifted, as other parts of her face kept falling off and regenerating. The determination she had modified herself with seemed to be struggling to keep her together. Toriel wondered if she would be better or worse if it was not there.

 

Slowly, Alphys began to move. Toriel tried her best to keep her  composure as the blanket slowly fell away, revealing a hideous, drooling…  _ mass _ that  slithered like a slug towards her on a slimy trail of its own failing body, a glittering path of dust following in its wake. Various wires and the blankets tangled in them dragging behind the afflicted scientist, disrupting the dusty trail of her own dying flesh. “Toriel…” she croaked, “help… me…?”

 

Toriel was glad that the child’s spirit was with her, as it quietly reminded her to stay strong. This wasn’t what Alphys was supposed to be. This wasn’t what any living being was supposed to be, and being approached by it was setting every instinct in Toriel’s head on fire, screaming at her to attack it or run away. Instead, she held her nerve and nodded. “I can try my best, although I’m not sure what to do…” she answered honestly.

 

“Mettaton…” Alphys’ weak voice replied, “Determination… Extractor… Low… Setting,” 

 

Mettaton looked a little apprehensive at the instruction, but nodded. “Come with me Toriel.” He instructed as they both left the room. “I’m not sure we should go through with this, but if Alphys believe it will work…”

 

“What do you mean?” Toriel asked in response.

 

“Well, that machine is very…  _ pokey _ … you see I’m not sure if you’d survive…” Mettaton replied with a heavy robotic sigh. 

 

“If I feel like I’m in danger I’ll get out somehow… ” Toriel said with a knowing smile to herself. She had the abilities of her human soul, of course, but decided to keep it vague. The experimenting duo might want to test her regarding them… 

 

Mettaton opened yet another mechanical door to reveal a massive machine. It hummed and hissed as if it was already working on something. Huge wires hung from it and trailed throughout the room, but all ended in the same location; a hole in the wall simply labeled ‘Alphys.’ “This is the determination extraction machine,” Mettaton explained, “It’s running on a very low setting in order to use what little determination it has stored to prevent Alphys from completely melting.” He turned to Toriel with a morose expression. “I’m afraid in order to make this work I’m going to have to wire you up to it and extract the determination from you. Since you have a pure human soul within you, it shouldn’t have any negative side effects on your soul… The vessel for it, however, I’m not sure about,” he finished, gesturing at her body. 

 

“Well like I said, if I feel like I’m in danger I will stop it,” Toriel responded. 

 

Mettaton pulled out a hospital gown and held it out towards Toriel. “Please change into this.,” he asked, sounding a little embarrassed “It will make the wiring a lot easier…” Toriel hesitantly took it, and Mettaton pointed to a changing screen. 

 

The goat went behind the screen and began to change which gave her time to mull over the situation. There was a chance this experiment could negatively affect her body like it had Alphys, she realised, but there was a difference; she had a pure soul. Toriel believed that that would keep her safe, and Alphys seemed to agree with her even if Mettaton had his doubts… And besides the risk, she wanted to help Alphys: no monster should have to live like that.

 

“I say we help them!” The child’s voice resonated within her. “Besides, if it goes badly we can always reset right?”

 

“We’ll try our best, small one.” Toriel smiled, holding her chest gently. Fully changed she walked over to Mettaton.

 

“Are you ready?” The robot asked.   
  
“As I’ll ever be.” She smiled in response. Mettaton patted a gurney that lay right under the machine. Toriel laid down and rested on the gurney looking straight up at a rather menacing looking contraption that hung above her. 

 

Mettaton warned her “These might sting a little…” as he started inserting needles attached to bundled wires into her body, primarily the arms and legs. Toriel breathed deeply with each one; it was a lot like getting a shot at the doctors, she kept telling herself, or maybe what acupuncture felt like. It stung a little, but the pain was short lived each time. 

 

She then saw a oxygen mask get put onto her snout as Mettaton said “It’s probably better you aren’t awake for this next part, so I’m going to put you under okay?” Toriel simply nodded, and Mettaton applied the anesthesia. The effect was immediate, as Toriel felt herself sleeping away into a deep dream-like state.

 

Her dreams, however were not easy. Images of the child she had killed swam before her eyes. They befriended everyone she had met since leaving the ruins, but then within seconds she was witnessing them slaughtering everyone instead. The images came faster and faster, until she didn’t have time to process what they meant or why they were even being shown, an endless rush of senseless violence and honest sentimentality twisted together into a psychedelic blur. 

 

Toriel shot upright with a scream. Panicking, glancing this way and that into murky darkness, she realised that she was alone, on a hospital gurney in the same gown she got put under in. She looked around, realising that her vision was blurry for some reason. Toriel tried waving a hand before her face, the edges fuzzy; although that was hardly unusual, she reasoned. She started to think about what else she could test her vision on when the door to the room slid open and the lights came on. She could make out a yellow figure hunched over a desk. “H-Hello?...” she called out weakly.    
  
“Oh! Goodness! You startled me!” A shrill anxious voice responded as the yellow figure got closer. “How are you feeling my Queen?” she asked.   
  
“You don’t need to call me Queen, I gave that up” Toriel explained. “As, for how I feel, like I got hit by a truck. Also my vision is very, very blurry…” she added, trying to focus on the yellow blur before her all the while.

 

“Oh! I got just the thing for that, hold on!” The yellow figure shuffled towards the desk and put a pair of cloudy glasses on her snout. Toriel blinked as her focus adjusted, the glasses correcting her vision. “How’s that?” the yellow newcomer asked. 

 

“Much better! Um...sorry to ask but who are you?” Toriel inquired.

 

“Oh! I’m Alphys, and, well, I guess I owe you my life Toriel!” the dinosaur beamed happily at her. “I  _ was  _ worried what would happen to you if you went into the extraction machine but I would never have put you in there if there was a risk of death; trading one life for another hardly makes sense, does it? Thankfully it seems all it did was mess up your vision a little bit…”   
  
“Wait, my vision is permanently like this?” Toriel asked as she stood up from the gurney, a little worried.

 

“Usually I would say yes,” Alphys admitted, “but you have a human soul inside you! Give it time and your eyesight should go back to normal.” She wrapped her arms around Toriel’s midriff. “Thank you so much for what you’ve done… I didn’t know how much longer I would of lasted like that… I-if there’s anything I can do to repay you…!”    
  
“Well, I need to head to the barrier,” Toriel explained, “so if you could let me out of your lab through the back-way I would be most grateful Dr. Alphys.” She was going to leave it there,  but then curiosity struck her “Also, doctor… did you make that robot?”    
  
“Who? Mettaton? Yeah I did! He’s one of my proudest creations!” She said proudly. 

 

Mettaton walked in with a pot of tea with cups for all of them “My ears were burning! And my diagnostics don’t show any failures in my auditory systems. Were you two talking about me darlings?” He asked happily, setting down the tray and pouring tea for them all.

 

“Yes we were, Metty,” Alphys admitted. “As for your request, Toriel… You save my life and all you want me to do is open a door?” She asked, a little incredulously. 

 

Toriel nodded calmly as Mettaton handed her a cup of tea “Thank you, and yes, that’s all I need,” she confirmed.    
  
“Well! Consider it done!” Alphys beamed before taking her own cup of tea. She seemed to struggle to pick it up for a few seconds. “As weird as this sounds… it feels odd to have solid hands again,” she snorted into a tiny giggle. “But you must be exhausted, please rest for a bit, you’ve had a long journey and have been through a lot, I can tell… I mean, you have a human soul for a start,” she began to explain.

  
“I am rather tired… perhaps some sleep is well advised.” Toriel nodded. Alphys, Mettaton and her talked for the rest of the evening about whatever came into their heads but Alphys seemed fixated on talking about a cartoon called Mew Mew Kissy Cutie. Once it was time Toriel was given her own bed and fell into a comfortable slumber.


	7. A stunning thought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A relaxing dinner provokes some thought.

Denature - Chapter 6

 

Toriel slept soundly through the night, with only the occasional dream passing through her mind of her strange vision, returning from her previous rest. “Toriel?” a familiar voice spoke as her blanket of sleep slowly ebbed away. Toriel opened her eyes to be greeted by Alphys. “Ah, you’re awake, I hope you don’t mind but I made you a small breakfast!” Toriel’s eyes drifted towards the tray the yellow monster was holding. It held a small bowl of rice with what appeared to be an egg yolk sitting atop the mound of tiny white grains, alongside a small cup of coffee.   
  
She had never seen this kind of breakfast before, used to the traditional cereal or toast. Taking the tray and setting it down her own lap, she then noticed two long but thin wooden sticks. Toriel picked one of them up curiously. “Alphys? What’s this?” she asked.   
  


“Oh! Those are called chopsticks, you use them to eat. I, er, use them alot, and forget other monsters don’t...” Alphys explained bashfully. “I-I can get you a spoon if you like?” she offered.

 

“No no, you’ve got me curious now. How do you use these to eat?” Toriel asked, conjuring the biggest of smiles from Alphys as she sat beside Toriel and began to show her the proper etiquette for using chopsticks. After breakfast was eaten Toriel thanked Alphys as they took the elevator back up to the main lab. “So, we both have a human soul inside us… Although mine is artificial… “ Alphys stated breaking the monotonous sound of the elevator.   
  
“I guess we do, but I have to ask; how did you replicate a human soul? I couldn’t imagine it would have been easy…” Toriel asked.   
  
“Well, I ran some experiments on the area where… forgive me, your son dusted…” Alphys mumbled, going silent to let the mood settle before Toriel motioned with her paw for her to continue. “Well, I assumed that where your son dusted something of Chara might remain. I mean, human souls just don’t disappear, and whilst I didn’t find a  _ whole  _ soul I believe I found  _ fragments  _ of it. I took them back to the lab to run some tests, and found some quite surprising things.”    
  
Toriel was taking all of this information on board but something about this just didn’t feel quite right. Alphys was disturbing the dead, and the grave of her child at that. Still, the goat didn’t want to be mad at the small yellow monster because she knew Alphys was doing what she could to help. “I’ve done several tests and, thanks to your pure soul, I’ve discovered that replicating a human soul and its effects requires a lot more determination than I had available.”

 

The elevator ride soon came to a halt as the doors slid open to reveal Mettaton standing outside. “Oh! You’re awake Toriel! I hope you slept well?” He asked in a cheerful demeanour.   
  


“Yes, thank you Mettaton.” Toriel responded with a kind nod. 

 

Alphys walked up to Mettaton and looked up at him, her eyes  a little too moist to be cheerful. “So Mettaton now that I’m… all better, are you going to leave and follow your dream of becoming a star?” She asked.

 

“I was thinking about it,” Mettaton admitted, before confidently continuing “but you know what? I think I’m happy staying here and being your lab assistant.” 

 

Alphys looked shocked. “But what about your dream?” she asked.   
  
“As it turns out, I’ve got what I need to be happy right here, being a lab assistant is honestly kind of fun, I also made a promise to not leave you… ” He said folding his arms.

 

“B-But that was because of, you know!” She said as she mimicked the actions of a amorphous blob making silly sound effects to go with it.

 

“Yes, but I didn’t end the promise with ‘until we fix this’, now did I?” He chuckled. 

 

Alphys rushed towards Mettaton with a huge smile on her face, wrapping her arms around him. “Thank you Mettaton.” she muttered into his cold metallic body. 

 

Toriel smiled at the scene before her. “Well, I better take my leave. I think I’ve lingered here long enough.”   
  
“Oh right, the door!” Alphys said as she scurried over to the back door and input a code to open it up for her. They all gathered at the backdoor to say their final farewells, before Toriel exited the lab and proceeded through the Hotlands yet again. 

 

The sound of boiling lava flowing before them and a strong industrial sound of clanking metal echoed throughout the cavern. The child’s voice interrupted the intrusive noises. “Toriel, who’s Chara?” they asked.

 

“That is... a tough question, small one,” Toriel carefully replied. “You see, Chara was a human child my family adopted. To say she was troubled would be an understatement; she fell down here much like you did, but I don’t believe she had the desire to get back up. That is until my son, Asriel, found her and brought her to our home. She wasn’t a bad child, just… flawed, life upon the surface seemed to have treated her unfairly.” Toriel explained out loud, as if the soul inside couldn’t hear her thoughts. She wasn’t sure why; maybe it comforted her to audibly hear the conversation, or maybe she just wasn’t used to talking silently with her thoughts.

 

“One day, Chara fell incredibly ill. I still don’t know why, but no matter what we did we couldn’t pry Asriel away from her,” Toriel explained further. “He told us that he had made a promise to her, but whenever we tried to find out what that promise was Asriel would just fall silent, and twist the wind up key on his musical locket. Perhaps part of the promise was not to tell us about it,” She reasoned with a sigh. “And then, Chara passed, and allowed Asriel to absorb her soul.” Toriel fell silent, taking a moment to steel herself to not get too emotional. 

 

“Now merged, they left the underground. There are many a tale of what happened beyond the barrier, but no-one truly knows. After all, how could we? A lot of people blame the humans but it could of been any number of things. But even if it was the humans, what came next was unforgivable. Asgore worked the Underground into a frenzy and declared war on the humans; an empty threat as we couldn’t leave the underground to attack them, but it is not what Asriel or Chara would have wanted… That is why I left. Asriel always spoke of dreams of peace, whilst Chara had hopes of freedom; I would not achieve either of these for my children if I stayed with Asgore,” she finished, and then bumped into a steel pole, having become so worked up that she wasn’t focusing on where she was going. 

 

Rubbing her head wincing in pain, she looked up at the pole realizing it was connected to another forming an arch that presented an open gate. Toriel noticed that it also held up a sign that proudly read ‘Burgerpants Megaplex®™!’. Through the gate she spied a huge structure and quite a lot of monsters walking around with shopping bags. It was a mall. The underground sure had changed a lot since she shut herself away from it. Soon a comical voice uttered behind her “Huh, how’s the view in pole position?” Holding back a snicker she turned around to predictably see the stout skeleton that she hadn’t seen since the start of her journey.

 

“Oh! Hello Sans! What brings you here?” she asked.   
  
“Well uh, it’s a mall, aaand I’m hungry.” he said, wearing that never changing smile. “Say, do you want to grab a bite to eat with me?” he offered.   
  
“Well, it looks like I have to cut through this mall to get to the other side anyway. So certainly, I would like that.” Toriel replied, as Sans guided her through the gate and pretended to ward away the pole she had walked into, even giving it the stink eye. She giggled softly, as the doors to the mall slid open and they stepped inside. 

 

The mall was certainly busy; lots of monsters walked around, doing their shopping while strange doglike creatures trotted around between them, wearing blue and yellow uniforms and speaking to each other in a weird dialect while enthusiastically cleaning everything they passed. “So, when was this built?” Toriel asked in order to get a conversation started rather than walking in total silence amongst the crowd.    
  
“Oh, it was going to be something else, a hotel I think…” Sans replied, “but something came up and these two business monsters - actually, I think only one really knows business that well, the other one just kind of spitballs ideas a lot. Much friendlier face though. Anyway, they bought the building when it was finished and repurposed it into what you see now, The Burgerpants Megaplex®™.” He explained “Although Burgerpants is the fella’s nickname, I think only his partner Muffet knows his actual name…” The skeleton shrugged.   
  
Toriel found this intriguing, but really had nothing to add to the conversation. They both stopped at the eatery named B&M®™’s Bistro. Inside was a  quaint little restaurant with more of the dog creatures skittering around, taking orders and serving customers. One of them approached the two before clearing its throat. “Hello, I am Bob and I will be your waiter this evening.” He said in the most clear, harmonic voice that Toriel’s ears ever had the pleasure of listening to. “Table for two?” he asked. Toriel simply nodded as Bob slid two menus onto his head. “Right this way!” He smiled, walking on ahead.   
  
The environment was nice and calming, soft piano music played throughout the room as Bob sat them down at a candlelit table and put the menus in front of them. “I shall return with a jug of ice water!” He said with a smile as he left the two alone at the table. 

 

Sans smiled “This isn’t my usual type of eatery but hey, I’ll take whatever’s closest. So Toriel, I judge you’ve been holding up well?” he asked.   
  
“It’s been… certainly an interesting journey,” Toriel admitted. “Resetting is… odd, but I have learned that not everything can be solved by it.” She remembered Goner for a moment, which made her smile softly. 

 

Sans nodded. “How’s the kid?” he asked. 

 

Taken aback by the odd question, Toriel thought the child should be fine if she was still standing. “Um, Let me ask, my child how are you doing?” She asked her eyes looking up at her forehead as if to make eye contact with the child. 

 

The child’s response was less public. ‘Oh! I’m well, but I don’t like the skeleton man, he’s been following us since the ruins.’    
  
Toriel was a bit confused by that statement; after all the child didn’t have a set of eyes anymore so how could they know that? “Sans, the child says you’ve been following me since the ruins… Is this true?” She asked.

 

“Huh, nothing gets by them huh? Yeah, I have, I made a promise after all.” He said, closing his eyes and giving a shrug. “I promised you I’d protect the kid that fell down here and, well, their soul is the next best thing right?” he explained.    
  
“Wait, but then you could have helped all those times…” Toriel responded quietly, lost in thought.   
  
“Uh… what times?” Sans asked.   
  
“All those times I was forced to reset! If you came and helped you cou-” Before Toriel could finish Sans raised his hand.   
  
“Toriel, I’m not aware of those resets, you know that right? Everyone’s memory kinda does a reboot to the moment of reset. If you’ve had to reset because you were about to die, then I’m sorry I couldn’t do more but… Hey, you’re here now right? That’s what’s important,” the skeleton tried to lighten the situation.   
  
“Sans, you seem to know a lot more about this stuff than you let on… Can I ask you something?” she asked before looking seriously into his eyes. “If I hadn’t made you promise to protect the next human that fell down here… What would you have done?”.   
  
An awkward silence fell over the two, Sans did nothing but sink into his hoodie obviously pondering that question. Perhaps he was checking if he liked the answers he was coming up with, or if Toriel wouldn’t approve of any of them. Toriel sighed softly. “I see,” she said quietly as she got up from her seat, about to leave. 

 

Sans quickly tried to stop her. “Toriel! Wait! The only reason I’m not answering is… I’m not exactly sure… I wouldn’t kill them unless they deserved it…”

 

That earned him a glare that could cut through any soul from Toriel. “What could a child possibly do that would justify their murder!?”    
  
“Genocide…” Sans muttered.

  
“How can one small child kill the entirety of monsterkind!? Also you wouldn’t kill them, but you wouldn’t stop them from getting killed if someone else did it?! That makes you just as responsible if you had the option to stop it!” She said getting a little heated as the buzz of the restaurant was dying down.   
  
“Like how you let those kids leave the ruins?” Sans shot back earning him a huge slap from Toriel that sent Sans barreling onto the floor from his chair. 

 

Toriel immediately covered up her maw in shock of what she just did, but stood strong. “How dare you!” She growled in disgust. 

 

Sans recovered from the slap realising he had said the wrong thing “Toriel, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” He replied meekly.   
  
“How else could you mean it?” She asked as a brown cat in a suit that had a fancy BP written on his shirt pocket approached the two. 

 

“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” He said as he walked over to help Sans up whilst a tall female spider in a black web-patterned laced dress came over to Toriel who offered to escort her out. 

 

“That’s fine, I was just leaving… “ the goat said as she proceeded to exit the bistro with the spider following close behind.    
  
Toriel looked at the spider “I apologise for that… he said something that he really should have thought about first… “ She apologised. 

  
The spider nodded. “It’s okay, I know the feeling. I’ve had to slap some guys that couldn’t take a hint either…” she replied.   
  
“I’m sure, my name is Toriel by the way. I’ll be sure to come back here later on my own and leave a tip… “ Toriel introduced herself as they drew closer to the exit.    
  
“Muffet,” the spider said simply, “and I will welcome you back with open arms, all six of them!” She giggled a little, and her statement got a laugh out of Toriel as well. Muffet opened up the large back double doors before Toriel asked, “Do you know how to get to the barrier from here?”   
  
“I certainly do! Simply keep heading straight forward and through the core! The pathway through the core is pretty straight forward, and once you’re out of the core it’s just a straight shot to the barrier. Take care now!” The spider bid farewell before closing the door behind Toriel, leaving to help her partner with the other monster. Toriel sighed heavily, looking at the paw she slapped Sans with as she walked towards the core. The more she thought about what Sans said, the more she couldn’t deny that he had a point. Was she just as bad as everyone else with her inaction? A question she would hope to have answered by the end of this journey. 


	8. A new bloom

The core; a gigantic facility that provided the entire Underground with the power that they needed. The sounds of electronic humming and mechanical gears whirring throughout the structure made for an eerie cacophony of sounds, yet relaxing in a sense as it at least meant that the facility was functional. Toriel was never quite sure why, but this place had always given her the creeps. She couldn’t shake it; no matter where she would go in this maze of energy and corridors, Toriel always felt like she was being watched by invisible eyes, but no matter where she looked she would never see another soul. That did not stop the hallucinations in the corners of her eyes, however.

 

For the first time in her journey she felt truly alone; ever since the events at the restaurant the child’s soul had been quiet, not uttering so much as a peep . Unable to take the noises of the power-plant any longer, Toriel decided to break the silence between them as she watched a conveyor belt carry a giant ice block into the heated vats below them, where it rapidly melted and evaporated with a loud sizzle. “My child, are you alright? You haven’t spoken a word since we got here,” the nanny goat queried.

 

‘Huh? Oh! Y-Yeah I’m fine.’ The child sounded unsure clearly.

 

“Are you certain small child? You don’t sound very fine.” She observed.

 

‘Oh, y-yeah, it’s just something Sans said earlier and-’ The soul began to reply before being cut off.

 

“Let’s not speak of him, I am still furious that he would suggest such things. I advise you also ignore what he said.” She said as her walk became more authoritative. Once more the child went silent as they continued through the core, but a new sound started to echo throughout the cold steel corridors, some sort of wail that sounded familiar... Whatever the noise was it was getting closer and closer. It became clear that it wasn’t a wail but some sort of scream, a battlecry? Toriel stopped in her tracks and turned around.

 

The screaming was slowly being accompanied by loud clunking footsteps that were certainly getting closer. Toriel’s eyes widened as she came to the realization of who that shriek belonged to, but before she could react “NGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” A lightly armoured Undyne jumped down, landing right in front of Toriel in a kneeling position. Both goat and human soul watched in silence as Undyne slowly rose to her feet “I, Undyne, am captain of the royal guard! It is my duty to ensure your protection at all costs, my lady, even with the circumstances of your plus one!”   

 

Toriel listened to the guard explain herself, sensing a difference in her attitude but still wary that this could just be a trick. “By the plus one you mean the human soul yes?” she asked, merely to confirm the statement that she made.

 

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Undyne responded most professionally, standing at attention.

 

“I see. Might I ask what brought about this change of heart? A couple of hours ago you were intent on dusting me…” Toriel questioned the Royal Guard, still unsure about her motivations.

 

“Well Your Majesty, after accidentally…  _ killing  _ Goner, I had to go tell the closest Monster to a parent I knew he had, Papyrus. We sat down and had some tea and I… I did something I hadn’t done for an awfully long time… I just talked.” She spoke softly, averting her gaze as she continued “You see Your Majesty, I do not have the highest opinion of humans as you saw… it was, after all, a human that did this to me,” Undyne motioned towards her scarred eye. “It was also humans that took away our freedom, and were responsible for-” she paused briefly, hesitant to bring this next fact up, “...for the late Prince Asriel’s demise… apologies…” 

 

“It is alright, I have made peace with those events… “ Toriel said before looking closer at the scars across Undyne’s left eye. “A human did that, you say?” she asked.

 

“Yes Your Majesty. Not in self defense either; when I first got the orders to capture humans, I did try to take souls peacefully at first… but some humans just can’t be calmed down with just words,” she said with a heavy sigh, before once more standing to attention. “Nevertheless Your Majesty I am here to escort you safely to the castle.” She bowed her head in respect.

 

“Please, you need not call me majesty, I am just Toriel. But I will accept your escort on one condition,” Toriel agreed.   
  
“What would that be Your Majes-” Undyne stopped herself, cracking a slight smile before continuing, “Toriel.”    
  
“Before you attack anyone, you must at least wait for my order, understood?” the goat requested.   
  
“But what if you’re attacked before you’re able to give it?” Undyne inquired, not directly disagreeing with the order.   
  
“You’ll just have to trust me, are we clear?” Toriel asked once more, to which Undyne gave a simple nod.   
  
“Yes Toriel, clear as crystal,” the captain confirmed as she began to lead the way. “Not that I expect any trouble, but this is after all my duty.” She smiled back at Toriel. They both began to make their way through the core, the trip being shortened by Undyne’s knowledge of the facility and the shortcuts she could show to her charge.    
  
“So, Toriel…” Undyne spoke after a time, if only to break the silence, “the child you accidentally killed… What are they like?” She asked.

 

“Well… death hasn’t seemed to dampen their spirits, in fact they have been happy using me as a vessel to explore the Underground… they even think you’re kind of cool, Undyne,” Toriel responded with a smile.

 

“Heh! The kid’s got good taste! I apologise for wanting to kill you both earlier,” she said before Toriel stopped dead in her tracks looking up in thought.    
  
“Child? Why have you gone silent once more?” she asked internally.

 

‘Oh, no reason! Just didn’t want to interrupt. I forgive her though,’ the child’s soul spoke to her before once again falling silent.

 

“Are you okay Toriel?” Undyne inquired, half turned back towards the queen.

 

“Oh, yes. Sorry, I was just talking to the child, we both forgive you… After all, you were just doing what you thought was right,” She smiled at the royal guard.

 

Toriel and Undyne made their way through the core with no trouble at all, before arriving at a place Toriel had never thought she’d revisit; New Home. She stood at the doorway for a moment, before her pensive state was shattered by Undyne looking back from the door ahead “Your M- Toriel, are you coming?” the captain asked.

 

“Oh, y-yes! It’s just… memories, that’s all,” Toriel spoke softly as she followed Undyne forward. It seemed that her previous abode had not changed that much after all these years; everything was eerily exactly as she remembered it. “Undyne, can you give me a moment,” she requested, and the guardswoman made her way outside to wait for her charge. Toriel walked from room to room, seeing many of her memories play out as if they were yesterday. Asgore enjoying her pie as Chara and Asriel played silly games in front of the fireplace.

 

Toriel felt a pang across her heart briefly, before the child resonating within her provided a glowing warmth. ‘Toriel, I am sorry things turned out like this… but I promise, I am trying to fix it,’ the child spoke. 

 

The wording seemed a little odd to her, but she responded quietly “Thank you child, but I’m afraid only time can fix this wound…” She looked over to the fireplace before wiping her eyes of tears. “I can only take solace in the fact that they are at least free from this dreadful place,” she said giving a small smile.

 

She made her way back to the entrance to collect Undyne, who simply gave her an understanding nod before escorting her once more through New Home. The town monsters murmured amongst themselves as the pair made their way through the crowded streets. Some recognising her as the queen, whilst others spread rumour of a long lost child. However, no one stopped them, and it was not long before they ended up outside the throne room of the castle. Undyne turned to smile at Toriel. “Please wait here a moment, I have to make sure he’s ready for visitors. I know, anti-climatic, but it’s my job to protect him as well…” she said as she entered the throne room, leaving her charge alone with her thoughts.

 

Toriel never thought in a million years that she would return here, especially in the conditions she was in. She had killed a child, absorbed their soul and now here she was about to meet her ex-husband after all this time. Her thoughts began to wander, mostly centred around one question; if she had absorbed one, then how many had ‘he’ absorbed? What changes had he gone through? Could he even be reasoned with? What was her endgame by being here?

 

“Toriel?” Undyne’s surprisingly gentle uttering making her jump a little. She panted a bit and turned to looked at Undyne.   
  
“Oh! Um, yes Undyne?” She asked, dusting off her robe.

 

“King Asgore is ready to see you now,” Undyne informed. 

 

This was it, the moment she was dreading. To see her ex again after all these years. Toriel bowed her head to her guardian, dismissing her as she entered the throne room. Asgore’s throne sat in the middle of the room, and further in the back she could spy her own throne covered in a clean sheet. Toriel had envisioned Asgore sitting on his throne, hulking and menacing as she entered, but she didn’t see him anywhere.    
  
She looked to her right for him, and instead saw six graves. Each had an neat arrangement of different coloured flowers; green, yellow, orange, purple, blue and teal. She stepped towards them before kneeling to examine each of the graves, when a deep voice intoned from behind her “Tori…”

 

Toriel winced and shook her head. “Do not Tori me,” she said angrily as she stood and span to face him to face him. She would have continued, but instead found herself having to look up quite sharply, and she gasped as she once again saw his face; it had not changed one bit over all these years. His attire was regal, official but surprisingly simple; gone was the warrior’s garb she remembered him donning when she left this chapter of her life.   
  
He was holding a tray of golden flower tea for them to share. “Tori, I’m sorry for… everything,” he mumbled in his rumbling voice. “Know that I do not seek your forgiveness, but I… I just want you to know that I am sorry. I was foolish, to declare war on humanity in the way I did but… I could not see any other way to stop Monsterkind from falling into despair…”

 

Toriel raised her hand. “Save it Asgore. I do not want to hear this right now,” she replied.   
  
“I see. So um, you look… different,” Asgore said, rubbing the back of his head nervously. Toriel shot a glare that could dust any monster if it were an attack.

 

“Yes, I do, but only because I needed to train a human to survive and I… I got a bit reckless,” She hissed.

 

“Wait, Tori… you killed?” He asked her, his eyes widening.

 

“Don’t you dare take the moral high ground on me Asgore! You’ve killed six! I’ve killed one, and it was by complete accident!” she yelled.

 

“Tori… I haven’t killed any. That’s why I’m surprised you have,” he responded quietly. 

 

Toriel’s eyes widened at this comment, almost ready to slap Asgore before motioning to the graves behind her. “Then what are the graves for?!” she growled.

 

“Oh, those, well the bodies are underneath them certainly but the souls are… well..” He said as he summoned a teal coloured trident and fanned it gently over the biggest flowers of each arrangement. “Please, look for yourself…”

  
Toriel raised a brow and hesitantly began to kneel down towards the green arrangement of flowers, bringing her face closer to the central, biggest flower of the arrangement. “You see Tori, thanks to the work of the science division, we learnt that the humans are in fact their souls as a whole. The body is just a vessel, so using that knowledge we made these,” Asgore explained.   
  
Toriel gasped and fell backwards onto her hands, as the flower she was examining opened its eyes and looked right back at her.


End file.
